The Vostok was a spherical capsule, designed to eliminate changes in center of gravity . In that way, the craft could assure comfort for its one-man crew no matter its orientation. What it wasn't designed to do was land with a human still on board.

Unlike later Russian space vehicles, such as the modern Soyuz capsule , Vostok 1 was not outfitted with thrusters to help slow it down as it headed back toward Earth, so Gagarin had to eject before reaching ground, at an altitude of around four miles.

But since the achievement would not have been regarded as the first successful manned mission to space unless it included a manned landing, the Russians kept this little detail out of official press releases.